what is a pen name?
A pen name, nom de plume (/?n?m d? 'plu?m/, French: [n?~ d? plym]), or literary double is a pseudonym adopted by an author.
A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her previous works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her writings, to combine more than one author into a single author, or for any of a number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work. The author's name may be known only to the publisher, or may come to be common knowledge. -Wiki
Remember that choosing a pen name is a business decision. The name you choose will follow you through your entire writing career.
It will become your brand, characterizing your public persona and the types of books that you write.
Your pen name will be used as your domain name, and will take up a large portion of your book cover. You'll have to say your pen name outload often, and be referred to as that name.
Take your time with this decision.
Why do published authors choose to write under a pen name?
-{emotional reasons} the wish to honor a relative or mentor
-protection of your family and self protection {keeping aggressive fans from tracking you down}
-business reasons {your name is the same as another famous person, or is too complex for the average person to pronounce, spell, or remember.
-your name doesn't fit the genre you wish to write {your name sounds too old fashioned for YA, or too cheerful for horror fiction}
-you want to write in multiple genres and don't want to confuse your core readership
-you want a fresh start, or want your work to come out with no premeditated opinions based from your past work
The downsides of using a pen name for each genre you write:
For every name you use you'll need a separate author platform.
Having multiple pen names is like having multiple businesses, and you have to be able to keep up with them.
Should you write under a pseudonym?
How comfortable are you with having your real name splashed all over the Internet, especially if your writing is being savaged in a blog post or book review?
Are you likely to attract more readers in your fiction genre if you're writing novels as a male or a female?
Would your name be easier to remember, pronounce, or spell if it was more generic?
Is your real name so common that it could be easily confused with the name of someone else (for instance, a highly publicized white collar criminal or another author in your fiction genre?)
Would you prefer to err on the side of caution, protecting your loved ones from your followers or from any future career fall-out that you may suffer?
How comfortable are you with the idea that fans and detractors may be able to find you in the phone book and show up at your house or your place of business?
Does your real name invoke a positive association with the fiction genre that you're writing? (For instance, if your birth name is Cherry Clapp, you may face hurdles in the Romance genre.)
Are you planning to write multiple fiction genres?
Where to find name inspiration?
Check out your family tree. There might be a great pen name lurking in there. You might find a great first name in one branch of the tree, and an excellent second name somewhere else. Don’t forget that many first names work as second names, and vice versa.
Look in a baby name book. It will only have first names, but again, they can often make good surnames too.
If your name sounds too old or too young, and you need an author name that suggests a person of a particular age group, calculate what year that person should have been born, e.g. 1984, 1974, 1964, 1934. Then google “popular baby names in [insert year]”.
Search online for the meaning of your own name. Then do a reverse search to find other names that mean the same thing.
Search online for names that symbolize qualities that really matter to you, whatever those may be. For example, when I googled “names that mean honest”, one site offered me 128 potential names.
What are some of the characteristics of your writing or your genre? Do they suggest ideas for names? Have a look in a thesaurus for other words that mean the same thing. Maybe you could adjust the spelling somehow, to make it a better name.
Think about aspects of the natural world: colours, fruit, animals, sounds, weather conditions. Do any of them suggest a name? What about the same word in another language? Try Google’s free online translator.
Use online name generators. Just google “name generator” and you’ll be surprised what comes up! I’d add the warning that most of these are really just a bit of fun, and probably won’t give you a quality name that you’ll want to write under forever. But keep your mind open, and see what the name generator might suggest to you. Perhaps the silly Spy Name it comes up with will trigger further ideas.
Check out classic literature such as Shakespeare. Don’t only look at character names, but place names and job descriptions as well. Sometimes even the older versions of English words they used can provide inspiration.
Try the phone book, if you still have one! In Australia, phone books don’t include first names, only initials. However, surnames often make great first names anyway, as we’ve said before. And you may have first names in the phone books, wherever you live.
Try a map for inspiration! Yes, street, suburb, state and even country names can make great pen names.
How to choose the right name and make some business decisions?
Identify the right age for your pen name: does it sound old-fashioned or modern? Young, middle-aged or senior?
What is the age range of your demographics?
If you are writing an instructional book, then it isn’t a good idea to choose a young name or a name that is younger than that of your target reader.
If your target market is 45, you should choose a name near or older than that- they'd be born in 1971. You'd need a name that was from that time period or before.
You can find name from a certain time period by typing into Google “Top Names of (year)".
Does Your Name Fit Your Niche?
On the flip side you for many fiction genres you don't want a safe sounding old-fashioned name.
Take a look at what others in your niche are doing.
Do you see any similarities popping up? Are others using initials? Are they all male of female?
What Letter to start with?
Where is your preferred pseudonym likely to be shelved?
At the top above everyone's head? At the bottom of a bookstore's stacks? It's best to be in the busy middle.
Near the name of a bestselling author in your fiction genre? (lots of competition)
Is your pen name available?
How common is the name you’ve chosen? Google it, and also check out social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Try to choose a name that doesn’t have any other authors using it, if you can. It will make it much easier for people to find you.
Is the Twitter handle available? (it’s always much better if you can just have the simple name as your handle, without any hyphens etc.)
Is the basic .com domain still available? If it isn’t, consider another name. If it is available, buy it NOW, even before you make a definite decision. It’s a small investment to make sure you keep that domain available to you.
The spelling, memory and sound:
Is your preferred pseudonym easy to spell and remember? You want your fans to be able to remember and find you online!
How does your new pen name sound?
How does it feel in your mouth?
Will you enjoy saying it aloud for the next umpteen years? (Will you enjoy hearing Oprah introduce you by that name?!)
Do the first and second names flow into each other easily? Does the total name hang together as a cohesive unit?
Does it sound right for your type of book or genre?
Strong or soft? Business-like or artistic?
Masculine or feminine or gender-neutral?
Can people spell it? This matters much more today, when people want to search for you online, and buy many of their books online too.
How will it look on a book cover? Make up some dummy covers in whatever software you have. Consider both full size and thumbnail size. Do the letters blend well together or do they look awkward?
If you are writing certain types of genre fiction, such as crime and thrillers, a short name might be better, because it will fit across the width of the book cover in a larger font!
Take a look at similar books in a bookstore, and you’ll see what I mean. The bestsellers all have the author’s name in huge letters, much bigger than the title.
Is it close to Another Famous Person’s Name?
You'll have to fight for Google search space with this person. It's better if your name is not the same as anyone else.
It can be a real marketing killer to have the same name as someone else.
Actionable Steps:
1. Google names- looking for "baby names" helps.
2. Consider the above questions when choosing the right name(s) for you.
3. Save all the names you find along the way to start a name bank for your characters.
Helpful Links for Choosing a pen name:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_name
http://www.writing-world.com/business/pen-names.shtml
http://mentalfloss.com/article/51195/how-8-famous-writers-chose-their-pen-names
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/07/writers-pen-names
https://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/resources/blog-archives/brooke-magnanti/how-to-blog-anonymously-and-how-not-to/
http://www.smallbluedog.com/how-to-choose-a-pen-name.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-23313657
http://www.smallbluedog.com/pen-names-different-names-for-different-genres.html
http://www.writing-world.com/business/pen.shtml
http://kriswrites.com/2013/10/02/the-business-rusch-pen-names/
http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/
http://www.fairiesworld.com/fairy-names.shtml
http://www.herinterest.com/100-cool-last-names-for-girls/
https://www.houseofnames.com/top-surnames.html
http://www.youcantcallitit.com/2011/11/16/20-surnames-for-girls/
http://www.thetoptens.com/best-last-names/
http://www.goddess-guide.com/goddess-names.html
http://ilovewerewolves.com/150-vampire-names-both-ancient-and-modern/
http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/vampire-names.html
http://fantasynamegenerators.com/
http://www.20000-names.com/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_common_surnames_in_North_America
http://hubpages.com/family/cool-last-names
http://www.grigsby.org/surname%20lists/index%20to%20unique%20surnames.htm
